Giant, powerful organizations nearly always do two things really well:
- Wax eloquent about how concerned they are with respect, privacy and customer service.
- Treat their actual customers like disposable pieces of crap.
I've seen lots of examples of this over the years. I've written about it, for example illustrating how HP disrespects its customers with simple things like hard-to-get-out-of email subscriptions you never subscribed to. I've just encountered an even grosser example inflicted on me by the world's leading IT consultant firm, Gartner Group.
Gartner Group
I've known a number of Gartner employees over the years, and most have been hard-working, respectful, knowledgeable people. But Gartner is a big place. They purport to teach the world's companies how to do IT. So how does Gartner itself do IT?
Here's the basic story with Gartner:
In addition to thousands of employees, they're worth billions of dollars:
Their range of activities is amazing. It's clear that they teach IT best practices to important companies all over the world:
It's hard to believe that Gartner's own IT practices wouldn't themselves be world-class. Wouldn't you expect a music teacher to be a master musician?
Gartner email
Somehow I ended up getting spammed by Gartner. I'm not sure how. I got this email:
I didn't ask for it, and I don't want it.
So I went to the bottom, and was assured that Gartner is committed respect, privacy and all the usual big-company boiler plate. And even better, I can unsubscribe!
So what happened? Did I get that satisfying one-click experience that responsible spammers provide? You know, the one that immediately says, "you're out! But if you'd be so kind, please tell us why you're going?" You know, like this:
No. Apparently, Gartner emails are much too important to be simply unsubscribed from. When the page popped up, my eye first went to this, which by itself sets a new record for customer disrespect:
They know my information -- they're emailing me! But filling out the form for me? I guess this standard practice is beyond the geniuses at Gartner. Or beneath them. Or they kindly want to make sure I'm qualified to live without their wisdom. Or something.
Then I studied the top part of the page, which provided the detailed instructions that must be meticulously followed in order to unsubscribe. If you're not good at reading and following instructions, the penalty is eternal pounding by unwanted junk mail from Gartner:
I have nothing more to say. Gartner, the billion-dollar advisory firm, leading the way, demonstrating the customer respect that big company customer service is all about. Also demonstrating how carefully crafted words are of supreme importance to such large organizations. Actions that match? Not so much.
Comments